It shouldn’t take a genius to figure out why VCBW’s been voted the city’s Best Food and Drink Event.
Just take a quick look at the three nouns that make up its name: “Vancouver”, “beer”, and “week”. Huh. That is, it’s a full week devoted to a delicious, alcoholic beverage located in a beautiful city that’s making some of the best, if not THE BEST, beer in the country.
The festival is superficially appealing enough that it could’ve won this category even it were haphazardly designed. But it ain’t. VCBW is expertly curated, with a week’s worth of cultural and industry events that have managed to satisfy that great swath of beer drinkers, from devoted beer geeks to casual craft beer drinkers, and unite them all under the banner of BC’s craft beer revolution.
It’s helped that the main tasting event has historically been located in the Olympic Village, with views of the city and North Shore mountains and all that. The fact that this event is moving to the PNE fairgrounds in 2015 shouldn’t neuter VCBW’s appeal. With over a dozen new BC breweries open since last spring, and the festival’s growing reputation abroad, next year’s event will be the biggest – and, here’s hoping, the best – edition yet.
Anyone who can’t wait that long is in luck – VCBW is throwing its first satellite event on Dec. 5, in partnership with the Donnelly Group. A Very VCBW Non-Denominational Beer Festival will feature 20 BC craft breweries, an ugly sweater contest, and live music at Studio East, from 6-11pm. Tickets are $49 through TicketZone.com.
